The governor Gustavo Melella presented -this morning- the signatures of the collective protection appeal that will be sent to the Federal Justice, with the aim of stopping the increases in gas rates in Tierra del Fuego, and questioned the National Government and the Camuzzi company for authorizing the increases .
In an event that was accompanied by mayors Walter Vuoto (Ushuaia), Martín Pérez (Río Grande) and Daniel Harrington (Tolhuin), the provincial president detailed what the process was like so that the judicial claim against Nación and Camuzzi has greater support through the board of signatures.
“To bring this protection there are people who thought about it and worked, beyond all those who took to the streets in search of signatures, I want to thank the Prosecutor and the team of the State Prosecutor’s Office. Because they are the ones who have done a great job, together with the legal and technical area of the province, and Minister Aguirre of Energy,” he highlighted after thanking the provincial political and business arc for their support.
And I add: “Today is a historic day in our province, and not of a government or a governor, because this protection belongs to all Fuegian men and women. We are represented and it is a great fact for our society. Because beyond any political difference, we are together defending something that we believe in and we are convinced that this brutal price harms us all greatly.”
Melella also considered that “the increase in gas is clearly discriminatory towards our province”, when comparing that in Tierra del Fuego it is not the same consumption that there may be in La Pampa or in Buenos Aires, and said that “the merchant who cannot pay it has to close.”
“We are living in a context of fierce adjustment: production, consumption, employment drop and your head is cut off with a tariff that is impossible to pay. How does a sports club pay for it? Where our boys and girls go, and the children of those workers or merchants who suffer the adjustment. The club increases your fee exponentially so that no one goes, or it ends up closing. And those kids are left on the street,” he remarked.
He also proposed that to authorize the high rates in the province “There is complicity between the National Government and the Camuzzi distribution company, because they said that there was no increase” and assured that “Tierra del Fuego produces 20% of the gas consumed in the country”.
“I give you some examples: a popular library paid $8,647. Do you know how much you are charging now? $141,789. If that is not an increase, I am a witch and those of us who are here are fools. If it is transferred to the population, it must be stopped and we do it for everyone. And it doesn’t happen because ‘before we were partying, and now we’re not’, there was a political decision to accompany the production and the neighbors with a special rate. We don’t believe those lies. There are things to correct but with balance, rationality and equity. Not in this brutal way,” he pointed out.
